Any faith that admires truth, that strives to know God, must be brave enough to accommodate the universe. — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
“I've always thought an agnostic is an atheist without the courage of his convictions.” — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
My deeply held belief is that if a god of anything like the traditional sort exists, our curiosity and intelligence is provided… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
“Do you believe in UFOs?” I’m always struck by how the question is phrased, the suggestion that this is a matter of… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
People are not stupid. They believe things for reasons. The last way for skeptics to get the attention of bright, curious, intelligent… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
After I give lectures-on almost any subject-I am often asked, "Do you believe in UFOs?" I'm always struck by how the question… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
“Nietzsche mourns the loss of “man’s belief in his dignity, his uniqueness, his irreplace-ability in the scheme of existence.” For me, it… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
“...You think if I haven't had your religious experience I can't appreciate the magnificence of your god. But it's just the opposite.… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
There is today-in a time when old beliefs are withering-a kind of philosophical hunger, a need to know who we are and… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
“It is certainly true that all beliefs and all myths are worthy of a respectful hearing. It is not true that all… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
All of us cherish our beliefs. They are, to a degree, self-defining. When someone comes along who challenges our belief system as… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
“Tom Paine wrote in The Age of Reason: Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
“We must surrender our skepticism only in the face of rock-solid evidence. Science demands a tolerance for ambiguity. Where we are ignorant,… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
My deeply held belief is that if a god of anything like the traditional sort exists, our curiosity and intelligence are provided… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
“If we’re absolutely sure that our beliefs are right, and those of others wrong; that we are motivated by good, and others… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
Think of how many religions attempt to validate themselves with prophecy. Think of how many people rely on these prophecies, however vague,… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
“Does trying to understand the universe at all betray a lack of humility ? I believe it is true that humility is… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
We are prodding, challenging, seeking contradictions or small, persistent residual errors, proposing alternative explanations, encouraging heresy. We give our highest rewards to… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
“It's no surprise that appeals to a state of mind called faith can relieve symptoms caused, at least in part, by another,… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
Indeed the reasoned criticism of a prevailing belief is a service to the proponents of that belief; if they are incapable of… — Carl Sagan Copy Share Image
It is sometimes said that scientists are unromantic, that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery. But is it… — Carl Sagan Copy Share
The prediction of nuclear winter is drawn not, of course, from any direct experience with the consequences of global nuclear war, but rather from… — Carl Sagan Copy Share
The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion or in politics, but it is not the path to knowledge; it has no… — Carl Sagan Copy Share
“Telepathy’ literally means to feel at a distance, just as ‘telephone’ is to hear at a distance and ‘television’ is to see at a… — Carl Sagan Copy Share
“On the scale of worlds—to say nothing of stars or galaxies—humans are inconsequential, a thin film of life on an obscure and solitary lump… — Carl Sagan Copy Share
Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies,… — Carl Sagan Copy Share
In our time, we have sifted the sands of Mars, we have established a presence there, we have fulfilled a century of dreams! — Carl Sagan Copy Share
“[ When a religious couple wrote to Sagan about fulfilled prophecies, he wrote back in May 1996 :] If ‘fulfilled prophecy’ is your criterion,… — Carl Sagan Copy Share
“Books permit us to voyage through time, to tap the wisdom of our ancestors. The library connects us with the insight and knowledge, painfully… — Carl Sagan Copy Share
We live on a hunk of rock and metal that circles a humdrum star that is one of 400 billion other stars that make… — Carl Sagan Copy Share
A tiny blue dot set in a sunbeam. Here it is. That's where we live. That's home. We humans are one species and this… — Carl Sagan Copy Share
Any sufficiently crisp question can be answered by a single binary digit-0 or 1, yes or no. — Carl Sagan Copy Share
Humans — who enslave, castrate, experiment on, and fillet other animals — have had an understandable penchant for pretending animals do not feel pain.… — Carl Sagan Copy Share
